McBeth and Perkins are a close second
March 17, 2018 by Alex Colucci in Recap with 0 comments
With the winds down in Waco, Texas, scoring opportunities were abundant in the Open field during the second round at the Disc Golf Pro Tour’s Waco Annual Charity Open. In total, there were nine bogey-free rounds on the second day, up from two in round one.
One of those clean sheets belonged to last year’s WACO champion Jeremy Koling who jumped from second place into the lead after a 13-under par 54 performance — rated at 1051 — took him to 23-under par 111 through two rounds. One-stroke back are Paul McBeth and Nate Perkins tied in second place at 22-under par 112. McBeth finished the day at 12-under par 55, while Perkins came in at 13-under par 54 in his home state. Garret Gurthie and Devan Owens are tied in fourth place, three strokes back at 19-under par 115. Gurthie carded a 13-under par 54 round, while Owens dropped from the lead after an 8-under par 59.
For much of the second round, it appeared as if McBeth would come away with the lead in the end. He started better than anyone at 10-under par through the front 9, capped off by a highlight-reel 50-foot uphill putt for eagle from the rough on the 519-foot par 4 15th. Despite the great start, McBeth cooled off down the stretch, carding four pars and just three birdies through the first seven holes of the back nine.
Then McBeth’s birdie putt from circle 2 on the par 4 5th missed high and glided OB to the water behind the basket, and after making the comeback attempt from 27 feet he settled for his first bogey of the day. On the final hole — the difficult par 4 6th — he was the only player on the lead card to clear the water with a look at eagle. But again his bid from circle 2 floated high. His comeback birdie putt from no more than 12 feet was low off the cage and settled for par. The miscues left the door open for Koling to grab the lead.
Koling, playing on the lead card with McBeth, did not get off to the strongest start, going OB but saving par on the opening hole. Once they hit the wooded section of the course though, the North Carolina native came alive.
Beginning on hole 11 Koling rattled off nine straight birdies, reaching circle 1 in regulation on eight of the holes, and cleaning up the ninth birdie with a 38-foot putt. Crucially, he rose to the occasion on the final two holes of the day, finessing a birdie putt into the chains from 50 feet on hole 5, and closing out with a birdie on hole 6 after his drive went long, giving him a slightly obstructed bid up to the basket.
Perkins closed out his bogey-free day birdieing five of the final six holes, all with tap-in putts after parking each one. Through two rounds, Perkins is second in the division in both circle 1 putting percentage, at 97-percent, and reaching circle 1 in regulation at 72-percent.
Gurthie is in his first season back on tour since 2014. He’s shaken off some of the inconsistencies from his first few events of the season, hitting 100-percent of his circle 1 putts in the second round and adding two more from circle 2. He showed off his big distance too, eagling the 558-foot par 4 5th and the 492-foot par 4 6th.
Further down the leaderboard Nate Sexton, JohnE McCray, Patrick Brown, and Andrew Presnell are all tied in sixth place at 18-under par 116. Ricky Wysocki and Drew Gibson are tied in 10th place at 17-under par 117.
Bradley Williams and Austin Turner each made significant moves up the leaderboard. Both jumped up 38 places into a tie for 14th place at 15-under par 199 after matching 13-under par 54 performances.
Hazardous weather is forecast for the late afternoon today, with the possibility of thunderstorms in the Waco area after 4:00 p.m. local time.
The lead card of Koling, McBeth, Perkins, and Gurthie tee off at 3:15 p.m. local time. You can follow live scoring via UDisc Live and watch the final round live broadcast at the DGPT YouTube channel starting at 4:00 p.m. local time.
